"I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I've got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it off to future generations."
-George Bernard Shaw

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November 03, 2012

Book Review: Decked

I’m in a Book Club that meets the first Saturday of each
month. Basically, we choose a book that we all read during the month
and then we get together and talk about it over snacks. It’s
wonderful! September was my first time going, and we discussed Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by
Jonathan Safron Foer. A lot of the ladies didn’t like it, but I really enjoyed
it. It kept me interested, so I read it pretty quickly. It’s definitely
thought-provoking, that's for sure. I missed October’s meeting because Jason and I were
drifting around the Caribbean on our honeymoon, but they read The Vow by Kim and Krickett Carpenter. I didn’t read that one, so I
can’t speak to whether or not it’s any good. I did see the movie though, and I liked it.

Tonight we are meeting again, so I thought I’d give a
short review on the book we read for this month, Decked by Carol Higgins Clark. It’s a mystery novel, so that was a
nice change of pace. Also, it is partially set in Oxford, England, which was
exciting since I visited Oxford a few years ago. It was fun, quick read that kept
me entertained, but overall I wasn’t too impressed. Maybe I’m a book snob, but
I like things to either be extremely well written, make me
think, or challenge me in some way. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close did that for me; this one did not. I'm not above reading literary "fluff," but I'd prefer it be written a little better. I'm a big fan of Emily Giffin and Jennifer Wiener, who are both fairly popular "chick-lit" authors with quick-witted writing styles and complex characters whose stories I can really get immersed in. In Carol Higgins Clark's defense though, I'm pretty sure Decked was her first novel, so I'll cut her some slack. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful, and I'd be up for reading more of her work just to see if she has gotten any better with more experience.

So that's my two cents on this month's book. It's definitely worth a read if you're even remotely interested, because it's quick paced and won't take you long to get through at all. I'm really looking forward to finding out which book we'll be reading for December! Plus I'm making a new recipe tonight to bring (Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread), so I'm excited to see how that goes as well!